From 1967, the IWC Aquatimer has earned a place on the wrists of professional divers.
The new Aquatimer continues the tradition of excellence. As a premium brand in the international luxury watch segment, IWC Schaffhausen has fully committed itself to the manufacture of top-quality products in haute horlogerie. For over 140 years now, the tradition-steeped company on the banks of the Rhine has been creating innovative mechanical watches and making them largely by hand. Watch connoisseurs all over the world appreciate the unique blend of prestige, expertise and technical sophistication distilled into the much sought-after timepieces made in Schaffhausen. Every single IWC is a statement of its wearer's self-assurance and a visible sign of success.
IWC Schaffhausen has many years of experience in the development and manufacture of diver's watches. In the 1960s, as more and more individuals discovered the fascination of scuba diving, there was a growing need for rugged diver's watches that were both robust and absolutely reliable. IWC reacted swiftly and, in 1967, launched one of the most efficient diver's watches of its time: the Aquatimer, equipped with a revolutionary new inner rotating bezel and 20-bar pressure-resistance, which at that time was unheard of. It established a watch family which, in a history going back over 40 years, has repeatedly demonstrated IWC's ability to innovate.
In 1982, IWC developed the Ocean 2000 with an external rotating bezel as a parallel to the only completely nonmagnetic service watch ordered by the German Navy for its mine clearance divers. The civilian version was made of titanium and was the first watch to offer pressure-resistance of 200 bar, ensuring its status as a collector's legend.
With the new GST sports watch line in 1997, IWC launched a further development of the Ocean 2000. The watch stands for ruggedness, professionalism and over 20 years of experience in the machining of titanium. Its outstanding features are a doubly secured external rotating bezel, internally screwed crown and pressure-resistance to 200 bar.
The GST Deep One unveiled in 1999 was, at that point, the only diver's watch to feature a mechanical depth gauge to 45 metres, a flyback hand showing maximum depth and an internal rotating bezel for dive time. It provided the technical foundation for the further improved Aquatimer Deep Two in the current collection.
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http://www.luxury-insider.com/features/2010/iwc-aquatimer-collection)
